a small room containing a pool of 30 m2 and a small canal. Such an installation is suitable for ritual libations or liquid offerings.
Places for funeral ceremonies must have existed near royal tombs like that of Cyrus at Pasargadae. This is suggested, for example, by Arrian, who mentions one horse per month as a sacrifice to Cyrus (Arr. VI, 29.4–7). No installation is visible near the tomb in this unexcavated area, which has been severely disturbed. Four tablets from the Persepolis Fortification Archive mention sacrifices near installations called šumar (probably meaning grave), one for Cambyses, perhaps near Niriz, 100 km east of Persepolis (Henkelman 2003), another for a certain Hystaspes, who may be identified with some probability with the father of Darius. The latter building may be recognized in the platform halfway between Persepolis and Naqsh‐i Rustam, but the only related building there is a columned hall. The sacred area of barely excavated Naqsh‐i Rustam remains unknown; the only candidate there for a religious or funeral building is the Ka’ba‐ye Zardosht. This stone tower erected in front of the cliff is an exact replica of the Zendan‐i Solaiman tower at Pasargadae. The assumptions on the function of the two towers, which contain a very small room without windows in the upper part, have been brilliantly disputed – tomb or shrine? – without decisive argument. A third attractive but rather vague hypothesis is that the tower of Naqsh‐i Rustam was erected by Darius for preserving the royal insignia (Sancisi‐Weerdenburg 1983).
The only known graves of this period are the freestanding monument of Cyrus at Pasargadae, the rock‐cut graves of Darius and his three successors carved into the 60 m high cliff at Naqsh‐i Rustam, and the tombs of Artaxerxes II and III overlooking the Persepolis terrace. A cemetery excavated by E.F. Schmidt north of Persepolis contained dozens of individual burials in pits or in clay coffins, but they are usually dated to the late or rather the post‐Achaemenid period. A unique grave was discovered in 2009 at the foot of the Persepolis terrace. A skeleton in a flexed position was put into a brick‐walled pit and covered by two courses of mudbricks. The few items accompanying the dead have not yet been published.
An Achaemenid tomb was found at Susa, dating from the fifth or the middle of the fourth century. A brick vault protected a bronze sarcophagus. It had preserved the skeleton surrounded by rich grave goods, including gold and bronze jewelry, and semiprecious stones for torque, bracelet, necklaces, earrings, a silver bowl, and two alabastra (Frank 2013). As in Persepolis, it is hardly understandable that this royal residence, which was occupied throughout the Achaemenid period, has not left traces of other graves. Mazdaism, a religion which recommends the exposure of the bodies to prey birds, does not suffice to explain the absence of elite or mundane graves. There is no evidence that this religion or the Zoroastrian reform reached these areas, not even the royal family, whose members are apparently buried and probably mummified; moreover, it is certain that the other contemporaneous religions requested different burying customs.
Artifacts
The excavations or surveys of Achaemenid sites in southwest Iran were rather disappointing regarding the artifacts. The immense majority of the famous gold, silver, bronze vessels or jewelry kept in many museums in the world were not found in these royal or elite residences. Most of them come from the antiquities market or from chance discoveries (e.g. the Oxus Treasure). Very likely the Achaemenid residences were plundered during Alexander's conquest, and that is for sure at Persepolis.
Some stone vases were found in the Persepolis Treasury, together with pottery and metal objects, weapons, and tools (Schmidt 1957). At Pasargadae, an Achaemenid or post‐Achaemenid treasure was found by chance near the bridge (Stronach 1978: pp. 168–177), while the excavations yielded pottery, bronze, and iron objects. From Susa, there are mainly the objects inside the so‐called Princess grave, but a series of alabastra, often inscribed, has been found here and there on the site. A well has also provided a nice series of ivories carved in different regions of the empire, showing Persian, Syrian‐Phoenician, Egyptian, and Greek styles (Amiet 2013: pp. 331–356).
The paucity of diagnostic objects is one of the main difficulties in identifying Achaemenid settlements. It should be noted that coinage is unknown in these regions until Alexander's conquest. Apart from the few coins from the Apadana foundation boxes, no coins have ever been found in the palaces, residences, and settlements which would have provided some chronological clues. Recent excavations, such as the Mamasani project near Nurabad (Potts et al. 2009) or the rescue excavations near Pasargadae, offer good opportunities to establish a chronology of the artifacts of the Achaemenid and later periods. In this respect, the archeology of the Achaemenid period, long devoted to the elite sites, remains in its infancy. The new excavations and survey projects will certainly greatly improve our knowledge in the near future.
REFERENCES
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